In 2020, local resident Mike Digout starting taking photos and videos of ChewBarka and his family and posting them on his\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>page<\/a>.<\/p>\n ChewBarka\u2019s fame grew, and has exploded into a global phenomenon, Digout told Cowboy State Daily during a telephone interview.<\/p>\n The page has followers from Canada, all 50 U.S. states and 75 countries, he said. It has 170,000 followers and gets up to 30,000 views a day.<\/p>\n \u201cI recently got a comment from a follower in the Philippines, saying, \u2018We don\u2019t have beavers here, but we love these animals,\u2019\u201d Digout said.<\/p>\n Digout said that whole thing got started during the 2020\u00a0COVID\u00a0pandemic lockdowns.<\/p>\n Feeling cooped up one day, he decided to take a walk along the city\u2019s riverside trail system.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw a beaver and took some photos, then posted them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n After a big positive reaction, he decided to keep visiting the beavers and posting images of them, along with small anecdotes about their daily lives.<\/p>\n Beavers are \u201cquasi-nocturnal,\u201d and the Saskatoon beaver family were most visible about two hours before sunset, Digout said.<\/p>\n Beavers are generally cautious around people, Digout said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you try to walk up to beavers in one of the state parks, they\u2019re going to slap their water with their tails and swim away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n However, the beavers near downtown Saskatoon are approachable, because they\u2019re acclimated to the constant presence of humans, and the noise of city life.<\/p>\n \u201cThis family of beavers lives right along the riverside trail system. So most evenings I can find them and get close to them,\u201d Digout said.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t long before the beavers had captured his heart, and he looked forward to the evening visits and photo sessions.<\/p>\n \u201cAs my audience grew, not only was I getting out to enjoy watching them, I was needing to get more content to share,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey really are quite cute, comical creatures. They\u2019re quite adorable to watch, I think that helps\u201d draw people in, he said.<\/p>\n Dubbed \u2018ChewBarka\u2019<\/p>\n After watching the beavers for a while, Digout and some friends determined it included a huge, older male, \u201cthe patriarch,\u201d his mate and their young, called kits.<\/p>\n One day, a friend suggested the moniker \u201cChewBarka\u201d for the patriarch.<\/p>\n Digout agreed, it was the perfect name.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a great pun. He\u2019s brown and furry, like Chewbacca from \u2018Star Wars,\u2019 and he eats bark,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n ChewBarka is thought to be about 11 or 12 years old, or a \u201csenior citizen\u201d in beaver terms, Digout said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s getting to be quite an old beaver. I know when I started following him in 2020, he was clearly the largest of the beavers in the area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Probably due to his age, some of the claws on ChewBarka\u2019s front paws have become permanently extended.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it has to do with the aging tendons in his claws,\u201d Digout said.<\/p>\n It started with one on his right front paw.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he was standing in a certain position with his paw in the air, it looked like he was flipping you off,\u201d Digout said.<\/p>\n The social media audience thought that was hysterical, he added.<\/p>\n Eventually, a second claw extended.<\/p>\n That toned down ChewBarka\u2019s act. Now it looks as if he\u2019s flashing a peace sign, and not flipping the bird at downtown Saskatoon.<\/p>\n Has ChewBarka Found Love Again?<\/p>\n Beavers typically mate for life, and their kits strike out on their own at about age two.<\/p>\n A couple of years back, there were no new kits, and a sad truth was revealed, ChewBarka had lost his mate.<\/p>\n However, there\u2019s reason to hope that ChewBarka has found love again.<\/p>\n There are three other beavers living with him in the family lodge, and one appears to be significantly larger than the others, Digout said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s difficult to tell which sex beavers are just by looking at them \u201cbecause all of their stuff is hidden,\u201d Digout said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis year, it looks like he has a new mate. There\u2019s another large beaver hanging out with him a lot. I\u2019m hoping it\u2019s a new mate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t say for sure whether the other adult-sized beaver is a mate, or one of the older offspring that just stuck around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Even so, \u201cI\u2019m really hoping for new kits in the spring,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n In most places, beavers essentially disappear for the winter. The water around them freezes up, and they hole away in their dome-shaped lodges.<\/p>\n \u201cThey collect a cache of food near the lodge, so they have food to make it through the winter,\u201d Digout said.<\/p>\n However, hot water from the Saskatoon power plant keeps\u00a0a\u00a0section of the river that flows through the city open year-round.<\/p>\n Though ChewBarka and his family aren\u2019t as highly visible during the winter as they are during the warmer months, they still venture out occasionally, Digout said.<\/p>\n He\u2019s thankful for that, because even in the dead of winter, he gets opportunities to see the beavers and share fresh content with his audience.<\/p>\n Digout said that the beavers have brought tranquility and joy to his life.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been proven that getting outside and observing wildlife lowers stress levels,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He hopes that his page helps spread some of that goodness, particularly to people who can\u2019t get outside much, because of old age or disabilities.<\/p>\n As he sees it, following the lives of ChewBarka and his busy family on Facebook is a welcome respite for folks all over the world.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of nice, peaceful escape from all of the negative crap on the Internet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChewBarka-Chewy-log1.17.26.jpg\")
A huge beaver called ChewBarka lives with his family on the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. (Courtesy Mike Digout)A Walk To The Riverside<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChewBarka-beaver-gives-finger-1.17.26.jpg\")
A beaver called ChewBarka appears to be flipping people off, because one of the claws on his right front paw is permanently extended. (Courtesy Mike Digout)From Flipping The Bird To Peace Sign<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChewBarka-Chewy-Grass1.17.26.jpeg\")
A huge beaver called ChewBarka lives with his family on the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. (Courtesy Mike Digout)![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChewBarka-chewy-twig1.17.26.jpg\")
A huge beaver called ChewBarka lives with his family on the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. (Courtesy Mike Digout)![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChewBarka-Chewy-rocks-1.17.26.jpg\")
A huge beaver called ChewBarka lives with his family on the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. (Courtesy Mike Digout)![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ChewBarka-city-1.17.26.jpg\")
A family of beavers lives near the heart of downtown Saskatoon, along the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatchewan, Canada. (Courtesy Mike Digout)Arrow leftArrow rightMaking The World A Better Place<\/p>\n